A NJ Transit train pulls into the Red Bank station. Service betwween Long Branch and New York could return by Monday. / STAFF PHOTO/MARY FRANK

Written by

@APPLarry

NEWARK — North Jersey Coast Line service is on a fast track to return on Monday, if repairs to two critical pieces of infrastructure hold up.

Executive Director James Weinstein said Coast Line service is likely to resume Monday between Long Branch and New York. That is dependent on repairs to an Amtrak electrical substation in Kearny, which was flooded during the storm. That substation is expected to return to operation today.

The other key is repairs to the Raritan River drawbridge, which was knocked out of alignment during the storm. NJ Transit crews also have been filling in washouts under tracks and doing other work on the Coast Line, which received the most damage from the storm out of all of NJ Transitís rail lines.

As a prelude to service returning between New York and Long Branch, NJ Transit officials announced that emergency shuttle bus service between Aberdeen-Matawan station and ferries in Liberty State Park will be discontinued on Monday, along with bus shuttles operated in lieu of service on other rail lines affected by superstorm Sandy.

Officials said the shuttles are being discontinued due to reduced customer demand. Shuttles from Metropark also will be discontinued, along with two shuttles from Morristown and Maplewood on the Morris and Essex lines.